A section of elders from the Pokot community have challenged the government to establish the root cause of insecurity witnessed in Kapedo area. The area has been witnessing protracted banditry and cattle rustling activities where many people have been killed hence the government decided to conduct a security operation in the area.
The elders claimed that there are influential people and families in the country who have an interest in the land endowed with oil and minerals in the area.
Led by an elder Mr. Moses Cheperer faulted the former regimes for marginalizing the Pokot community lamenting that there was less action by the government in the semi-arid region citing that most of the communities around could not feel the full presence of the government in the region.
Speaking to the press yesterday in Kapenguria, the elders claimed that there are people who have been dividing the Pokot and Turkana communities for them to get resources in the area.
He said that the Pokot community has for long been branded bad names and victimized.
“The terrain in the area is bad and residents stay in hardship,” he said.
The elders expressed concern over neglect by the authorities to arrest the concern of the residents who are living under dire harsh conditions without any proper infrastructure in place.
“Outsiders want gold and oil and they are after pushing residents out of their ancestral land. They are interested in Korose, Monde,Nusu, Nadome, Kapedo, Lomelo, Lokor, Lokichari, and Ngamia One area,” he said.
“After 58 years after independence, the Pokots in Tiaty are still suffering and being killed day and night hence being termed as bandits. Let them take me to court if I am lying. I don’t know if I will be there. We were brutalized during the 1984 operation in West Pokot,” said Cheperer.
“After the colonialists left, those in power drew the boundary using hired goons who killed Pokots. Who has the title deed for the area from Churo to Kapedo?” he asked.
He cited that the area lacks basic requirements like schools, hospitals and water.
“There is no food or water. The road from Marigat-Kabarnet-Mogotio-Nakuru has been blocked and is impassable,” said Cheperer.
Furthermore, Cheperer castigated West Pokot leaders for remaining mam on the issue for fear of being targeted politically.
“Leaders led by the Governor, Senator and Mps are silent. One person, a Luhya from Trans Nzoia, took land in Lokichar. Is it possible for an outsider to come and buy land in the midst of Pokots and Turkana?” He asked. He called on religious leaders to also intervene in the issue.